We have four active chapters around the state. These chapter officers have been diligently working to bring relevant education to the chapter members and with creating a quality collaborative peer meeting environment.

All WAA members have been subscribed to their chapter listserv based on the chapter listed in their profile. Download these listserv instructions to learn how to subscribe if you do not currently have a chapter affiliation listed on your profile, to unsubscribe, or to change the email address you want subscribed to the listserv.

Membership Dues

The non-deductible portion of WAA membership dues for Active and Associate members is 26% for this fiscal year. This amount is attributable to lobbying activities.

The principal aims of this publication are the advancement of the accounting profession and communication among our members. Opinions expressed herein are those of the individual writers and not necessarily those of WAA or the Editor. Please submit articles and comments to editorial@waa.org.

The deadline for submissions is the 15th of the month preceding publication.

The mission of the Washington Association of Accountants is to promote and protect the right of every member to practice accounting and taxation; to provide the services and professional education necessary to maintain and improve professional competence.

From the President

by Jerry Gintz

You've got to be kidding me!

Can life and business in this county get any more uncertain?! I just received my new tax software for processing 2013 tax returns. I use Lacerte (now keep reading, I made that choice over 25 years ago and dread a change to another program). No matter who is our vendor of choice, all of us will most likely be getting daily updates, as we move from here forward, into the filing season. I was really surprised to be getting my software this early, (due to the ACA confusion) but I’ve come to understand that the updates are much easier to push out these days, via internet downloads, so real-time updates are in vogue. I concede that with technology we get more complexity, yet with technology we get the ability to deal more efficiently with the complexities. This relationship tends to feed on itself. >>READ MORE

Education Committee

by Cynthia Polley

We’re in the midst of seminar season, and WAA has plenty of education options to satisfy your CPE requirements. It’s not too late to attend the upcoming Individual 1040 Update 16-Hours (in Auburn or Spokane) or get your EA ethics hours in at the same locations. In addition to the live Gear Up seminars, there is a great menu of online options that offer a variety of topics.

Please see below for our list of educational opportunities. Or go to our website www.waa.org.

There’s still time to satisfy your CPE requirements for 2013, but we’ve been busy getting everything in place so you can plan where you’ll be getting your hours next year! Here is the WAA seminar schedule for 2014 for those of you who like having lots of time to plan ahead.

2014 Live Seminar Schedule

Federal Tax Update

Renton

January 13, 2014

WAA Conference

Tacoma

June 19-20, 2014

Jennings Education – Technology

Tacoma

June 20, 2014

Gear Up Business Entities

Auburn

October 27-28, 2014

Gear Up 1040 Update

Lynnwood

November 10-11, 2014

Gear Up EA Ethics

Lynnwood

November 10, 2014

Gear Up 1040 Update

Auburn

December 1-2, 2014

Gear Up EA Ethics

Auburn

December 1, 2014

Gear Up 1040 Update

Spokane

December 8-9, 2014

Gear Up EA Ethics

Spokane

December 8, 2014

Gear Up Accounting

TBA

TBA

The Income Tax School – SELF-STUDY CLASS

The Income Tax Class has been a great addition WAAs menu of education options. The last two years over forty members have used the course to take a refresher course or train their staff. There is still time to complete this course by January to get prepared for tax season.

Bob Jennings offers regularly scheduled webinars on a variety of topics. Can’t make it to the live presentation time? No problem. You can tune in at your convenience to an On-Demand webcast. They are awesome!

Western CPE offers an innovative curriculum taught by a faculty of experts, and we're committed to giving you an experience that's engaging, informative, and comprehensive to your needs. They have many options for completing your CPE requirements, including several available self-study or webcast presentations on the recent healthcare reforms.

Bisk Education offers many options with instant access, instant grading, and instant certificates as well as unlimited access to online courses. Informative and convenient, they also offer featured updates in a bi-weekly tax webcast. They’re currently offering a 6 credit class:

Urgent! Change to Safe-Harbor Language for Non-Licensed Must Read - New Language to be Used.

WAA Protects Non-Licensees' Right to Practice - Again!

The Washington Association of Accountants has once again been successful in protecting the rights of non-licensed accountants to prepare financial statements under safe harbor language. Back in 1983, legislation was proposed that would have eliminated the right for non-licensed (non-CPA) accountants to prepare financial statements for small businesses. READ THE FULL PRESS RELEASE

Member Services

by Melanie Levno

WAA is excited to announce the launch of our community group on LinkedIn! Click Here

This is an area where our Members can interact and discuss current issues, share advice, and get support. We will post timely relevant news that will start real-time discussions on issues that affect you and that affect your clients. We hope to establish our group as another go-to resource for you.

If you haven’t discovered the power of LinkedIn yet, please take a moment to visit www.linkedin.com and find out what it’s all about. And then we encourage you to join LinkedIn and to join our community group. We will be making an announcement next week on our group page that you don’t want to miss!

Nominations

Do You …

Have Ordinary Abilities, and a willingness to share your Perspective?

Would You …

Be willing to Further Develop your personal and professional Leadership Skills?

NSA Scholarship FoundationDo you know anyone that is going to school for accounting? NSA offers scholarships from $500 to $2,000. If you have someone you’d like to nominate, please stay tuned. The application will be available on January 1, 2014 & will be posted in my article. Click Here for more information.

Update on Janet Fix

by Janet Fix, EANW Chapter, ex-SecretaryAs many of you know, on May 2, 2013 I was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer, multiple tumors in various places, 3 veins were blocked by blood clots, and 4 major organs were not working correctly. I was in the hospital Intensive Care Unit and expected to live only a few months.

As of Sept 27, 2013 all my cancer is gone, my veins are clear, and all my organs are working well. My doctor is amazed. He said that the daily chemo-therapy and the anti-cancer diet (fresh organic-grown fruits/vegetables, eggs, fish, chicken, turkey, water, and NOTHING else) alone could not account for my rapid recovery. The only explanation was, it was a miracle. I had many people praying for me, and I thank all of you who did. I have learned a lot through this experience, and I will never again take lightly anyone’s request for prayer. I am alive and well today because of the prayers of many people on my behalf.

Because I was not able to attend any of the classes on changes to the IRS rules this summer, and because my medicine has affected my ability to remember things, I will not be doing any tax returns in the future. I have sold my business.

I enjoyed my years of membership in WAA, and I believe it is the very best accountant organization available. The education at monthly meetings was so helpful and timely, and the networking was wonderful. I made many friends through WAA, and I encourage all of you to invite everyone in the business to join WAA.

Chapter News

Greater Seattle Chapter

by Jeremy Saladino

Hi Everyone, The Greater Seattle Chapter hopes that everyone had a safe tax season and is getting ready for the Gear Up classes for next season. We had a small but informative meeting in November. Mehrdad Ghassemieh spoke about International tax planning and taxes for residents versus non-residents. This gentleman knew his stuff, and went through a long presentation in record time, but still had time for questions along the way.

And December is going to be our 2nd annual office holiday party. We are inviting not only members, but significant others and staff as well. We will have a guest speaker, Kieran Murry from ignite-U will speak briefly on that charity and we will end the afternoon with a dessert auction, with the proceeds going to the scholarship fund. So bring your wallets and your whole office, even if that is the unpaid spouse or significant other. Or bring both. Hope to see you on the 4th.

Northwest Chapter

by Ronnie Wright

*****ATTENTION***ATTENTION***ATTENTION***ATTENTION***ATTENTION***ATTENTION*****The Northwest Board has been busy getting all of the final details and accommodations in place for our upcoming Mini Seminar. The Mini Seminar is being held on, Wednesday, November 20, 2013. Our guest speaker – B. Siobhan Murphy, CPA, CMA, CFM, MBA will be presenting on, “The Balance Sheet…And Beyond.” This exciting workshop will work through practical and comprehensive exercises specific to Schedules L, M-1 and M-2. Please do not pass up on this opportunity of 4 hours of CPE, which includes a hot breakfast buffet. Seminar location is Best Western Cotton Tree Inn Convention Center, 2300 Market Street, Mount Vernon, WA 98273. This is an excellent opportunity for you and your staff to work through practical applications of the balance sheet. For additional information please contact Ronnie Wright or Kathy Jolly at (360) 675-6838.

In our "spare time" we have also been planning a holiday party. Details about the upcoming event will be discussed at our upcoming Northwest Chapter Meeting on, Thursday, December 5, 2013. This is a meeting that you do not want to miss. Our guest speaker will be from the Washington State Insurance Commissioner’s Office and they will be talking to us about the Washington State Health Exchange Website, as well as other Health Care Reform information that we will need to be aware of in preparing to meet with all of our tax clients in the upcoming filing season.****HAPPY HOLIDAYS***FROM***THE***NORTHWEST***CHAPTER***HAPPY HOLIDAYS*****

Puget Sound/Tacoma Chapter

by Shawn Gagnon

Join, participate and benefit! That’s our motto at the Puget Sound Tacoma Chapter of WAA. Being part of a professional community comes with huge benefits both professionally and personally along with opportunities for leadership. Our chapter meetings are lively events. Members are networking before and after the meeting, sharing ideas on practice management, tax issues, and technology; all while getting to know each other.

Our upcoming December 10th meeting will surely be extra lively. We are having our 3rd annual gift basket auction and raffle. Our Chapter Board members each contribute a gift basket that is fiercely auctioned off among the members during the meeting. All money raised goes to support our WAA Scholarship fund. This will be fun...don’t miss out.

As always, our December meeting with have an educational portion. Our speaker, Craig Chance of Columbia Bank, will teach us about SBA loans and what we, as tax professionals, need to know to help our clients.

Mark your calendars for upcoming meetings in January and February on Filing Status Issues and Practice Management Tips and Tools. We take a break during busy season and will resume our meetings on May 7, 2014, with a timely presentation on “How to Sell Your Practice”!

Spokane Chapter

by Hazel Flynn-Parkison

Happy Thanksgiving! In October, the Spokane Chapter hosted a well attended 3 hour Idaho Income Tax Update with the Idaho State Tax Commission. In addition, WAA and the WSCPA hosted a Legislators meeting. We anticipate hosting these events again next year.

We will give you the essential planning tips and tools to navigate through the changes as well as provide a comprehensive review of the complexities of Form 1040. Updated for tax rebate legislation, along with many important topics that impact your clients (e.g., foreclosures, repossessions, and bankruptcy).